Bolivia: The doctor who treated a patient infected with a virus transmitted by rats in the jungle died

A Bolivian doctor who treated a patient infected with a deadly virus transmitted by sylvatic rats died Wednesday in intensive care, bringing to three the number of people killed by the epidemic, medical sources said.

Gustavo Vidales, MD, died as a result of a "multi-organ complication" in a hospital in La Paz where he was hospitalized, said Fernando Romero of the Public Health Branch of the Medical Union, while that another infected doctor stays in the intensive care unit.

Both had treated a deceased internist after treating the patient zero, a farmer infected by the disease in a rice field in the Amazon region of Caranavi, north of La Paz, and also died.

Outbreak of the disease

The The Ministry of Health determined that the outbreak, after tests sent to the United States, was due to the arena virus, which is endemic in the jungle and causes severe haemorrhagic fever. However, health officials said the epidemic – the first in a decade – was under control.